Four Random Things

One. Everly's drawings are fantastic lately.  That is a picture of me, complete with eyebrows and the biggest smile you ever did see. I am love love loving watching Everly's creative side come out and her people drawings are my absolute favorite.  I am proudly hanging this up in my office!

Two. I have become a huge fan of podcasts.  Pictured is my new iPad mini and a cup of coffee on the way to work.  It all started when my favorite bloggers from a long time ago (Young House Love) started a podcast.  I liked listening to it quite a bit.  Recently a friend told me he was coming to Chengdu and asked if he could bring me anything.  I jumped at the chance and had Wes order me an iPad mini and I now listen to podcasts on my commute to and from work.  It makes the time fly by and I feel like I am learning so many things.  I still haven't figured out any true favorite podcasts but if you know any I should check out, feel free to leave me a comment.  This is definitely one of those things that I can't believe took me so long to figure out.

Three. Miniature succulents might be the cutest thing I have seen in awhile.  The girls picked these out at our neighborhood and while Wes is only giving them one week to live (the girls like to put all the water on them), I am putting these in my memory bank because I think they would be really easy to decorate with when we get home.

Four. Parenting can be rough.  For the most part, we have been in a good groove lately.  The sun is out, the girls are (mostly) getting along, one child needs less disciplining than she did 6 - 8 months ago and the girls are genuinely fun to be with.  However, this past Saturday and parts of Sunday were r.o.u.g.h. They gave us both a run for our money, errrr patience.  It made me think that I rarely talk about the hard things here on this blog (because why do I want to remember them arguing? or not listening to me?), but just know that when you see a lot of pretty pictures and lots of smiley girls - it is not always unicorns and rainbows over here.  Everything is a phase and I am normally pretty good about having perspective, but this last weekend got to me a bit.  I am thankful for grace and fresh starts every morning when it comes to this parenting gig.